At present, when moving a load of more than 50 kg, all the more so when it weighs 75 or 100 kg, over short distances, teams of several persons are used, or lifting machines (lifting truck, crane, etc.).
These means have disadvantages. When they are manual, such manipulations pose health problems for the operators, who risk musculoskeletal disorders.
With lifting machines, apart from the fact that these generally require the presence of two operators, one for lifting the load and the other for guiding it, there are problems relating to the size they take up, preventing their use in confined locations.
Individualized load-carrying aids of the exoskeleton type are also known (WO 2006/078871).
Although such devices allow at least some of the disadvantages of the above-described means to be overcome, they are not truly satisfactory.
This is because they do not permit flexible operations, allowing a heavy load to be easily picked up and put down.
Provided initially for military uses (infantrymen having to cover long distances, for example), they are designed to be worn dorsally, making it possible to take up the load parallel to the user's back, and substantially in line with his spinal column, while freeing the front of the user's body (for handling a firearm, for example).
Moreover, they generally require another person's assistance for placing the loads on the user's back and/or for handling the exoskeleton.
A device is also known with extension of the frame laterally and toward the front, parallel to the user's hips. This is a device of the above type and with the same disadvantages.
An exoskeleton is known (WO 2010/101595 or US 2011/0266323) with a rear lateral bar comprising shoulder straps which are fixed on the bar and which pass forward over the user's shoulders in order to support a suspended tray.
Although more stable, this device still has disadvantages.
This is because it requires counterweights or elements for distributing the forces to the rear of the user.
The user is thus imprisoned to the front and rear by the exoskeleton, which, on the one hand, is detrimental to the speed with which the user can put on the device and, on the other hand, creates a sense of imprisonment for the user, which is harmful in situations of stress or combat.
Finally, exoskeletons are known which seek to protect the user from vertebral and/or muscular problems when lifting loads from the front. The document WO 2013/106532 thus describes a mechanical structure having a front bar with a compensating piston.
The document JP 2007 130234 for its part proposes a system which is affixed to the operator and provided with two articulated arms which are connected by a V-shaped structure to two articulated legs.
In this case, the load taken up by the user's arms is relayed to the user's legs by a V-shaped structure, aided in this by a control unit placed on the user's chest.
It is understood here that the assembly cannot be conceived without the upper part of the exoskeleton situated above the belt (chest and arms particularly) and a central connecting bar between the hips in the same plane.